Tyre strategy took a back seat in the first race of the season as engines and reliability became the centre of interest.
The new qualifying rules regarding tyres didn’t even have a significant bearing on the race, due to the rain which fell on Saturday.
Last year most drivers made three pits stops but Kimi Raikkonen claimed victory by only coming in twice. This time two-stop strategies were the norm as expected.
However most drivers made their stops early to coincide with the Safety Car. Jenson Button played a blinder at this point, reacting immediately to the first sight of the Safety Car board and getting in a lap before his rivals, making up some time.
He picked up more places at has last pit stop, coming in early to undercut Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg, He managed this despite Alonso enjoyed the second-fastest pit stop of the race at this point.
Ferrari set the two quickest pit stop times of the race, having a more successful day in the pits then they did on the track.
Adrian Sutil was the only driver who made a single stop as Sauber once again seem to have a car which treats its tyres more delicately than his rivals. It didn’t help him into the points, however.
Australian Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
| Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | Stint 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nico Rosberg | Soft (12) | Soft (26) | Medium (19) | |
| Kevin Magnussen | Soft (12) | Soft (25) | Medium (20) | |
| Jenson Button | Soft (11) | Soft (21) | Medium (25) | |
| Fernando Alonso | Soft (12) | Soft (23) | Medium (22) | |
| Valtteri Bottas | Soft (10) | Soft (26) | Medium (21) | |
| Nico Hulkenberg | Soft (12) | Soft (21) | Medium (24) | |
| Kimi Raikkonen | Soft (12) | Soft (24) | Medium (21) | |
| Jean-Eric Vergne | Soft (12) | Soft (21) | Medium (24) | |
| Daniil Kvyat | Soft (12) | Medium (24) | Soft (21) | |
| Sergio Perez | Soft (1) | Medium (10) | Soft (21) | Soft (25) |
| Adrian Sutil | Soft (35) | Medium (21) | ||
| Esteban Gutierrez | Medium (1) | Soft (29) | Soft (26) | |
| Max Chilton | Soft (24) | Soft (17) | Medium (14) | |
| Jules Bianchi | Soft (20) | Soft (15) | Medium (14) | |
| Romain Grosjean | Soft (28) | Soft (15) | ||
| Pastor Maldonado | Soft (29) | Soft (0) | ||
| Marcus Ericsson | Soft (23) | Soft (4) | ||
| Sebastian Vettel | Medium (3) | |||
| Lewis Hamilton | Soft (1) | |||
| Felipe Massa | Soft | |||
| Kamui Kobayashi | Soft | |||
| Daniel Ricciardo | Soft (12) | Soft (24) | Medium (21) |
Australian Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
| Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
| 1 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 21.825 | 36 | |
| 2 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 21.978 | 0.153 | 35 |
| 3 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 22.264 | 0.439 | 28 |
| 4 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren | 22.273 | 0.448 | 37 |
| 5 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 22.399 | 0.574 | 32 |
| 6 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 22.411 | 0.586 | 11 |
| 7 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 22.427 | 0.602 | 36 |
| 8 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 22.497 | 0.672 | 11 |
| 9 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 22.526 | 0.701 | 32 |
| 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 22.615 | 0.790 | 12 |
| 11 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | 22.656 | 0.831 | 35 |
| 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 22.847 | 1.022 | 29 |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 22.887 | 1.062 | 12 |
| 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 22.933 | 1.108 | 33 |
| 15 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 22.978 | 1.153 | 33 |
| 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 22.994 | 1.169 | 12 |
| 17 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 23.117 | 1.292 | 36 |
| 18 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 23.124 | 1.299 | 12 |
| 19 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren | 23.150 | 1.325 | 12 |
| 20 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham | 23.238 | 1.413 | 23 |
| 21 | Max Chilton | Marussia | 23.493 | 1.668 | 41 |
| 22 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 23.673 | 1.848 | 38 |
| 23 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber | 23.797 | 1.972 | 30 |
| 24 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | 23.821 | 1.996 | 20 |
| 25 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 23.920 | 2.095 | 36 |
| 26 | Max Chilton | Marussia | 24.209 | 2.384 | 24 |
| 27 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber | 24.305 | 2.480 | 35 |
| 28 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 24.331 | 2.506 | 12 |
| 29 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 25.541 | 3.716 | 1 |
| 30 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 25.543 | 3.718 | 12 |
| 31 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 30.514 | 8.689 | 12 |
| 32 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber | 32.657 | 10.832 | 1 |
| 33 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 34.921 | 13.096 | 10 |
2014 Australian Grand Prix
Image © McLaren/Hoch Zwei
TribalTalker (@tribaltalker)
16th March 2014, 18:51
Wow! Hats off to Williams for replacing the broken wheel rim of Bottas in about 12 seconds!
Tomsk (@tomsk)
16th March 2014, 19:08
Yes, and for keeping him ahead of Raikkonen at his second stop, despite Ferrari’s amazing work (2.2sec, according to the TV) and having to steer around the Toro Rosso crew on the way out.
Theoddkiwi (@theoddkiwi)
17th March 2014, 4:56
This is very promising for the season regarding the tyres. A two stop race is a good level. The softs had good life but also did show clear degradation without the random sudden cliff to fall off. This means the strategy is not so clear cut between the two tyre specs nor which laps to change them on. There was reasonable overlap available.
They did have to manage their tyres, but not to the point of crawling around the circuit.
I think the mix of fuel and tyres strategy is very promising